Latest news with #FidjiSimo
Gizmodo
an hour ago
- Business
- Gizmodo
OpenAI's New Exec Has a Grand Plan to Make AI for Everyone
Fidji Simo knows technology can make life better or it can make inequality worse. As OpenAI's incoming CEO of Applications, she's making it clear which path she wants AI to take. 'Every major technology shift can expand access to power,' she said in her memo announcing her new role on July 21. 'The power to make better decisions, shape the world around us, and control our own destiny in new ways. But it can also further concentrate wealth and power in the hands of a few—usually people who already have money, credentials, and connections.' She continued: 'That's why we have to be intentional about how we build and share these technologies so they lead to greater opportunity and prosperity for more people.' Simo comes to OpenAI after leading Instacart, where she took what was once considered a luxury, paying someone else to do your grocery shopping, and turned it into a mainstream habit. Her track record suggests she knows how to make tools accessible and widely adopted, a skill she now wants to apply to AI. In her vision, AI is a personal tutor, a health advocate, a creative partner, and an economic equalizer. She wants AI to level the playing field for people who traditionally can't afford expert guidance. 'Once we put a personalized AI tutor on every topic at everyone's fingertips, AI will close the gap between people who have the resources to learn and people who have historically been left behind,' she said. Her own experience with chronic illness drove home how fragmented and confusing healthcare can be. She imagines AI systems that decode medical jargon, suggest treatment options, and help patients feel in control of their health. On the economic front, she sees AI giving people the tools to start businesses or manage personal finances, without the need for specialized credentials or big upfront capital. The stakes are nothing less than who controls the future of knowledge and opportunity. If Simo's vision succeeds, AI could act as an equalizer, letting anyone build businesses, improve health literacy, or access world-class tutoring. But if it fails or if access remains paywalled, it could further entrench inequality, putting advanced tools in the hands of the wealthy while everyone else lags behind. Critics have warned that promises of democratization often give way to premium subscriptions and corporate control. Others argue that AI itself could eliminate jobs faster than new ones are created, widening economic gaps instead of narrowing them. Simo is stepping into one of tech's biggest ethical challenges: making AI empower the many, not the few. If she succeeds, OpenAI could become the great equalizer of the 21st century. If she fails, it could be remembered as the moment AI cemented a new Gilded Age where the rich didn't just get richer, they got smarter, faster, and untouchable.
The Verge
2 days ago
- Business
- The Verge
Instacart's CEO is about to take the reins of a big chunk of OpenAI
Instacart's CEO, Fidji Simo, will start her new role as an OpenAI executive on August 18th, leading at least one-third of the company and reporting directly to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Simo will be 'CEO of Applications,' tasked with scaling and growing the tech's use cases. It's a brand-new role, first revealed as part of Altman's reorganization announcement in May. At the time, Altman wrote that he'd still oversee what he called the three pillars of OpenAI — research, compute, and applications — but that he would start to focus more on the research and compute side of things, including safety systems. Simo, on the other hand, will be more focused on product and growth. In a memo to employees, which was also published on OpenAI's blog, Simo wrote she was most excited for AI-led healthcare breakthroughs. She also wrote extensively about her belief in AI's ability to help with career and life coaching, creative expression, time-saving, medical second opinions, regaining time, and personalized tutoring. Simo wrote that major technology trends can either expand access to power or 'further concentrate wealth and power in the hands of a few — usually people who already have money, credentials, and connections.' She wrote that the choices the company and AI leaders make now 'will shape whether the coming transformation leads to greater empowerment for all, or greater concentration of wealth and power for the few.' Simo first joined OpenAI's board in March 2024. Her appointment came at the same time as CEO Sam Altman regained his board seat, after an internal investigation of the lead-up to his ouster. OpenAI's applications department 'brings together a group of existing business and operational teams responsible for how our research reaches and benefits the world,' Altman wrote in May, adding that Simo's role will focus on 'enabling our 'traditional' company functions to scale as we enter a next phase of growth.' Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly referred to Simo as the former CEO of Instacart. Simo will remain as CEO through the company's earnings in early August and then transition into her role at OpenAI.
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Fidji Simo Lays Out Vision As OpenAI CEO of Applications Ahead of August Start
Fidji Simo, the outgoing Instacart chief executive officer headed to OpenAI, outlined her vision for the newly created role of CEO of applications ahead of her official start at the ChatGPT maker next month. Simo will begin her new role on Aug. 18, an OpenAI spokesperson said. In a blog post published on the company's website on Monday, she set the tone for how she envisions the company's artificial intelligence technologies can be used by more people, rather than concentrated in the hands of the wealthy and connected. While she did not specify a product roadmap, she reflected on how AI can be useful in six broad areas, including knowledge, health, creative expression, economic freedom, time and support.
WIRED
2 days ago
- Business
- WIRED
OpenAI's New CEO of Applications Strikes Hyper-Optimistic Tone in First Memo to Staff
Jul 21, 2025 1:05 PM Ex-Instacart CEO Fidji Simo sent a memo to staff Monday laying out her vision for how AI will change the world. Incoming CEO of Applications at OpenAI, Fidji Simo, poses during a photo session at the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit, at the Grand Palais, in Paris, on February 11, 2025. Photograph:OpenAI's incoming CEO of Applications, Fidji Simo, sent her first note to staff on Monday, telling employees the tools they're developing 'will unlock more opportunities for more people than any other technology in history.' 'If we get this right, AI can give everyone more power than ever,' Simo wrote, striking a hyper-optimistic tone, according to a copy of the memo viewed by WIRED. 'But I also realize those opportunities won't magically appear on their own.' Simo previously worked as the CEO of Instacart. Before that, she spent a decade at Meta, where she went from being a product manager on the company's news feed to the head of product for the Facebook app. For the last year, Simo has been a member of OpenAI's board of directors. In her memo, Simo said she'll be starting her role as an OpenAI executive 'in a few weeks.' She'll report directly to CEO Sam Altman. Simo's primary role will be to lead the startup's business and operational teams, according to Altman's announcement about the hire in May. She'll be responsible for translating OpenAI's research into viable products like ChatGPT, the API (which developers use to build their own tools atop OpenAI's technology), and enterprise tools—and securing high-profile business partnerships. In the memo, Simo outlines her thinking on how AI will impact knowledge, health, creative expression, economic freedom, time, and support. She promotes a few common ideas that paint a rosy picture of AI: personalized AI tutors, better health data, more opportunities for creative expression, efficiency gains from automation, and AI-powered emotional support (a hotly debated topic). 'My business coach Katia has been transformative to my career, and I've joked with her over the years that everyone needs a 'Katia in their pocket,'' Simo wrote. 'Personalized coaching has obviously been a privilege reserved for a few, but now with ChatGPT, it can be available to many.' The memo reads like a mission statement, not just for the Applications division, but for OpenAI's broader bet: that it can build tools that feel as personal and indispensable as a search engine or a smartphone. In the memo, Simo positions OpenAI's products as the great equalizer that knocks down society's barriers to knowledge, income, and emotional clarity—though whether it will actually do so remains to be seen. 'AI can compress thousands of hours of learning into personalized insights delivered in plain language, at the pace that suits us, responsive to our specific level of understanding,' Simo writes. 'It doesn't just answer questions – it teaches us to ask better ones. And it helps us develop confidence in areas that once felt opaque or intimidating, growing both personally and professionally.' The memo also hints at OpenAI's vision for emotional companions. In the closing section, Simo writes that AI coaches 'can be available throughout every day, leverage their full understanding of all aspects of your life to help support you, and bring your subconscious patterns to your consciousness.' That idea goes hand-in-hand with the rumored hardware device OpenAI is creating with famed designer Jony Ive, which the Wall Street Journal reported will be 'fully aware of a user's surroundings and life.' Altman hasn't shied away from flat out saying the company hopes to build an AI similar to the movie Her, where a lonely man fresh out of a failed marriage turns to a virtual companion named Samantha. That, of course, has also gotten Altman into hot water since critics note the film is more of a cautionary tale than a business opportunity. The memo was very on brand for an OpenAI executive: optimistic and based largely on future promises. While Altman, Simo's boss, works to coordinate some of the more futuristic ideas, like Stargate and artificial general intelligence, Simo will work to pair the startup's complicated research into real tools for consumers. 'If AI can help people truly understand themselves, it could be one of the biggest gifts we could ever receive,' Simo writes.
The Verge
2 days ago
- Business
- The Verge
Instacart's former CEO is taking the reins of a big chunk of OpenAI
Instacart's former CEO, Fidji Simo, will start her new role as an OpenAI executive on August 18th, leading at least one-third of the company and reporting directly to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Simo will be 'CEO of Applications,' tasked with scaling and growing the tech's use cases. It's a brand-new role, first revealed as part of Altman's reorganization announcement in May. At the time, Altman wrote that he'd still oversee what he called the three pillars of OpenAI — research, compute, and applications — but that he would start to focus more on the research and compute side of things, including safety systems. Simo, on the other hand, will be more focused on product and growth. In a memo to employees, which was also published on OpenAI's blog, Simo wrote she was most excited for AI-led healthcare breakthroughs. She also wrote extensively about her belief in AI's ability to help with career and life coaching, creative expression, time-saving, medical second opinions, regaining time, creative expression, and personalized tutoring. Simo wrote that major technology trends can either expand access to power or 'further concentrate wealth and power in the hands of a few — usually people who already have money, credentials, and connections.' She wrote that the choices the company and AI leaders make now 'will shape whether the coming transformation leads to greater empowerment for all, or greater concentration of wealth and power for the few.' Simo first joined OpenAI's board in March 2024. Her appointment came at the same time as CEO Sam Altman regained his board seat, after an internal investigation of the lead-up to his ouster. OpenAI's applications department 'brings together a group of existing business and operational teams responsible for how our research reaches and benefits the world,' Altman wrote in May, adding that Simo's role will focus on 'enabling our 'traditional' company functions to scale as we enter a next phase of growth.'
